The Queen and her faith
On the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, we give thanks to God for her life of service. Here, Rev'd Jim Griffiths, Ministry Area Leader, North Cardiff, looks back on the importance of her Christian faith in her private life and public service.
In the many tributes that have been paid to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, one phrase that has come up repeatedly is that hers was a life that was well-lived. It was a life marked by service, diligence, warmth, humour, generosity and integrity. Whether royalist or republican it surely impossible to disagree.
We may find ourselves wondering what was the secret that lay behind such a remarkable life? It’s actually no secret at all. She told us all the time: it was Jesus. What made the queen the person she was, was her relationship with the one she called the King of Kings.
It was in her Christmas Broadcasts that she shared most openly about her faith. As we now look back at those addresses we see that Jesus meant four things to her.
First, Jesus was her teacher. The Queen was persuaded that Jesus was the Son of God and so his words could be trusted. As she put it very simply in her 1981 Christmas Broadcast:
Christ … revealed to us the truth in his teachings.
Not ‘a truth’ or ‘my truth’ but ‘the truth’. It was a conviction that never left her. In her final Christmas Broadcast she spoke of
Jesus - a man whose teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, and have been the bedrock of my faith.
Second, Jesus was her example. He was the one whose example she tried to follow throughout her life. She said it was Jesus’ pattern of selfless service that inspired her. As with any of us, there must have been times when she would have rather have stayed at home than go to another function, and yet she always went, and unfailingly showed kindness, warmth and generosity to all those she met. Similarly, it was Christ’s example of forgiveness that she sought to emulate in her own life. She said:
For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role-model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing.
Following Jesus’ example was not without considerable personal cost. In 1979 the IRA took the life of Lord Mountbatten, her husband’s uncle and her son’s godfather. In 2012 in a remarkable gesture of forgiveness and reconciliation, she shook the hand of the former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.
Third, he was her saviour. In her 2011 Christmas Broadcast the Queen made this remarkable statement:
Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.
At the heart of the Queen’s faith was the recognition that there is a problem with the human heart. We so often fail to be the people we want to be. We need saving from ourselves. Jesus came to be our saviour: to offer us forgiveness and a fresh start. Finally, Jesus was her Lord. I am told that every night the Queen would kneel in silent prayer before the King of Kings. She said:
For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life
The Queen knew that she was personally accountable to God for how she lived her life. That sense of personal accountability shaped the whole of her reign. It can be seen as early as her very first Christmas broadcast when she said:
Pray for me … that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life.
The Queen had many privileges in life that we will never enjoy but her greatest privilege by far was that she was a child of the King of Kings. That same privilege is available to us all. No matter who we are, no matter what we have done, we are all invited to share in the ‘secret’ and receive Jesus as our Teacher, our Example, our Saviour and our Lord.